SOI structure having a sige layer interposed between the silicon and the insulator

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor structure and a method of manufacturing a silicon on insulator (SOI) structure having a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer interposed between the silicon and the insulator. According to one manufacturing method, a first SiGe layer, a silicon layer, and a second SiGe layer are epitaxially grown in sequence over a first substrate, and then an insulating layer is formed on the second SiGe layer. Then, impurity ions are implanted into a predetermined location of the first substrate underlying the first SiGe layer to form an impurity implantation region. A second substrate is bonded to the insulating layer on the first substrate. After the first substrate is separated along the impurity implantation region and removed, the first SiGe layer remaining on the surface of the separated region is removed so that the surface of the silicon layer may be exposed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S.provisional application 60/352,260 filed on Jan. 30, 2002, the entirecontents of which are incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer deviceisolation technology, and more particularly to a method of fabricating amodified SOI structure having a buried semiconductor layer.

2. Description of the Related Art

PN junction isolation between adjacent devices on a bulk siliconsubstrate is used in the manufacture of silicon integrated circuits, butis not suitable for high voltage applications since junction breakdownsoccur at supply voltages of about ±30 V under appropriate doping leveland dimensions. Furthermore, PN junction isolation between the adjacentdevices is not effective in a radioactive environment due to transientphotocurrent caused by gamma rays at the PN junction.

To overcome the above noted disadvantages of conventional PN junctionisolation techniques, silicon on insulator (SOI) technologies have beendeveloped. In SOI technologies, a device is completely encompassed withan insulating material in place of the normal PN junction. Circuitsmanufactured on a SOI substrate have advantages in that the overall chipsize is reduced, the fabrication process and resulting structure aresimplified compared to circuits manufactured in a bulk siliconsubstrate, and parasitic capacitances between the devices and the bulksilicon substrate are reduced to achieve high speed operation thereof.

Commonly known techniques for obtaining SOI structures includesilicon-on-sapphire (SOS) which allows heteroepitaxial silicon layer tobe grown on sapphire, separation by implanted oxygen (SIMOX) whichcreates a buried silicon oxide layer by implanting oxygen ions into asilicon substrate and annealing the substrate, and bonding SOI by whichat least one wafer having an insulating layer thereon is bonded toanother wafer.

Despite the advantages described above, metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)field effect transistors (FETs) formed on a SOI wafer have a problem inthat a floating body effect occurs because a buried oxide layer isolatesthe body of the transistor from the silicon substrate. When an NMOStransistor is operated, holes generated by impact ionization areaccumulated in the electrically floating body, thereby raising apotential of the body. The increased body potential reduces thethreshold voltage of the device. The increased body potential causes anundesirable kink effect in drain current vs. voltage curves of the NMOStransistor, and induces operation of a parasitic bipolar transistor,thereby leading to an instability of gate control over source-draincurrent.

FIG. 1 is a cross-section of a MOS transistor formed on a SOI waferhaving a SiGe layer buried in the body region of the transistor thereon.Referring to FIG. 1, an insulating layer 20 is formed on a substrate 10.A silicon layer 32, a SiGe layer 34, and a silicon device layer 36 areformed in sequence on the insulating layer 20. A gate electrode 42 isformed on the device layer 36 with a gate insulating layer 40 interposedtherebetween. A spacer 44 is formed on a sidewall of the gate electrode42. A source region 46 and a drain region 48, both of which areself-aligned to the spacer 44 and doped with impurities, are formed overthe device layer 36, the SiGe layer 34, and the silicon layer 32.

In the configuration of the transistor of FIG. 1, since the valence bandof the SiGe material exists closer to a Fermi level than that of thesilicon material, since the SiGe material has a band gap narrower thanthe silicon material, a potential barrier for holes is lowered at ajunction of the SiGe layer 34 and the silicon device layer 36.Furthermore, when a drain voltage is applied to the MOS device,electrons cause impact ionization at the drain region 48. The holesgenerated by the impact ionization move to the SiGe layer 34 having alowered potential barrier for holes and then to the source region 46through the SiGe layer 34, thereby suppressing the floating body effect.

However, since the MOS transistor of FIG. 1 has a partially depletedstructure, it has relatively low transconductance and low switchingspeed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention is to provide a silicon on insulator(SOI) structure having a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer interposedbetween the silicon and the insulator. The silicon germanium layer, dueto the narrow band gap characteristics of the SiGe material, suppressesboth the floating body effect and the associated kink effect andincreases the breakdown voltage (and thereby the drain current) of adrain in a MOS transistor formed on the SOI structure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a SOI structuresuch that semiconductor devices fabricated on the SOI structure haveimproved transconductance and higher switching speeds as compared todevices on conventional SOI wafers.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide multiplemethods of manufacturing the SOI structure of the present inventionhaving a SiGe layer interposed between the silicon layer and theinsulator.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by methodswhich fabricate a novel semiconductor structure in which thesemiconductor structure includes an insulator configured to provideelectrical isolation between devices formed in the semiconductorstructure, a silicon germanium layer in direct contact with theinsulator, and a silicon layer in contact with the silicon germaniumlayer.

In one method of manufacturing the SOI structure of the presentinvention, a first SiGe layer, a silicon layer, and a second SiGe layerare epitaxially grown in sequence over a first substrate, and then aninsulating layer is formed on the second SiGe layer. Then, impurity ionsare implanted into a predetermined location of the first substrateunderlying the first SiGe layer to form an impurity implantation region.A second substrate is bonded to the insulating layer on the firstsubstrate. After the first substrate is separated along the impurityimplantation region and removed, the first SiGe layer remaining on thesurface of the separated region is removed so that the surface of thesilicon layer may be exposed, thereby forming the SOI structure of thepresent invention.

In one embodiment of this method, the first substrate is formed ofsilicon, and the impurity ions implanted in the first substrate arehydrogen ions, thus facilitating separation of the first substrate fromthe SiGe layers. The first SiGe layer is formed to a thickness of 10-30Å, and the projected range of the impurity ions implanted duringimpurity ion implantation is 50-100 Å below the first SiGe layer. Afterremoval of the remaining first SiGe layer, the second substrate may beannealed in a hydrogen atmosphere in order to make the surface thereofsmooth.

In another method of manufacturing the SOI structure of the presentinvention, a SiGe layer and a silicon layer are epitaxially grown insequence on a substrate, and then an insulating layer is formed on thesilicon layer. Impurity ions are implanted into a predetermined locationof the substrate underlying the SiGe layer to form an impurityimplantation region, and then the substrate is annealed. Subsequently,the substrate between the impurity implantation region and the SiGelayer is thermally oxidized, and the insulating layer formed on thetopmost surface of the substrate is removed, thereby forming the SOIstructure of the present invention.

In another method of manufacturing the SOI structure of the presentinvention, a porous silicon layer is formed on a first substrate, andthen a silicon layer and a SiGe layer are epitaxially grown in sequenceon the porous silicon layer. Then, an insulating layer is formed on theSiGe layer, and a second substrate is bonded to the insulating layer onthe first substrate. Subsequently, after the bonded first and secondsubstrates are annealed and the first substrate is separated along theporous silicon layer and removed, the porous silicon layer remaining onthe silicon layer is removed, thereby forming the SOI structure of thepresent invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects and advantages of the present invention will becomemore apparent by describing in detail preferred embodiments thereof withreference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-section of a metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS)transistor formed on a conventional silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waferhaving a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer interposed on top the siliconlayer of the SOI structure.

FIG. 2A is a cross-section of a MOS transistor formed on a SOI structureof the present invention having a silicon germanium (SiGe) layerinterposed between the silicon layer and the insulator.

FIG. 2B is a replica of a cross-sectional transmission electronmicrograph showing one example of the SOI structure of the presentinvention having a SiGe layer in lower contact with a SiO₂ layer forisolation and in upper contact with an epitaxial Si layer;

FIG. 3 is a schematic energy band diagram of the materials taken alongline A-A′ of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic energy band diagram of the materials taken alongline B-B′ of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a graph in which drain current-drain voltage curves of a MOStransistor formed on the SOI structure of the present invention arecompared with those of the MOS transistor formed on a conventional SOIwafer;

FIG. 6 is a graph in which drain current-gate voltage curves of a MOStransistor formed on the SOI structure of the present invention arecompared with those of the MOS transistor of FIG. 1 formed on aconventional SOI wafer;

FIGS. 7-12 are cross-sectional views showing a process for fabricatingthe SOI structure of the present invention;

FIGS. 13-18 are cross-sectional views showing another process forfabricating the SOI structure of the present invention;

FIGS. 19-24 are cross-sectional views showing another process forfabricating the SOI structure of the present invention;

FIGS. 25-30 are cross-sectional views showing another process forfabricating the SOI structure of the present invention;

FIG. 31A is a graph depicting a secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS)profile of atomic Ge concentration as a function of Ge layer thickness;

FIGS. 31B and 31C are graphs depicting, respectively, the solubility ofhydrogen in an alloy of SiGe and the solubility of hydrogen at a SiGeinterface with silicon;

FIGS. 32 and 33 are graphs depicting atomic concentration profiles fortwo different hydrogen implants;

FIG. 34 is graph depicting a SIMS profile across multiple SiGe/Siepitaxial structures;

FIG. 35 is a depiction of a cross-sectional transmission electronmicrograph of a SiGe/Si epitaxial structure similar to that depicted inFIG. 35.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not beconstrued as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather,these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thoroughand complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention tothose skilled in the art. In the drawings, the thickness of layers andregions are exaggerated for clarity, and the same reference numeralsappearing in different drawings represent the same element. It will alsobe understood that when a layer is referred to as being “on” anotherlayer or substrate, it can be directly on the other layer or substrate,or intervening layers may also be present.

In the present invention, a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer, having anarrow band gap in order to suppress a floating body effect, is buriedin a body region (i.e., an active region of a semiconductor device) andis in contact with an insulator. This structure serves to isolate thebody region of one device from a body region of another device.Embodiments of the buried SiGe layer on insulator and embodiments of amanufacturing method thereof are described below.

Referring to FIG. 2A, FIG. 2A depicts an insulating layer 110 on asubstrate 100, and depicts a SiGe layer 122 and a device layer 124sequentially located on the insulating layer 110. A gate electrode 142contacts the device layer 124, between which a gate insulating layer 140is interposed. A spacer 144 can be formed, according to the presentinvention, on a sidewall of the gate electrode 142. FIG. 2A depicts asource region 146 and a drain region 148, both of which are self-alignedto the spacer 144 and doped with impurities. The source region 146 andthe drain region 148 are located in the device layer 124 and the SiGelayer 122. The structural difference from the MOS transistor of FIG. 1is that, according to the present invention, the SiGe layer 122 is incontact with the insulating layer 110 and not formed on top the siliconof the SOI structure, as shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2B is a replica of a cross-sectional transmission electronmicrograph showing one example of a fabricated SiGe buried layer of thepresent invention. In the depicted structure, the SiGe buried layer(34.9 nm thick) is in direct contact with a lower SiO₂ layer (230 nmthick) providing electrical isolation and in contact with an upperepitaxial Si layer (143.6 nm thick).

Suppression of the floating body effect on the SOI structure of thepresent invention will now be described with references to FIGS. 3-4.FIGS. 3 and 4 are energy band diagrams of the SiGe layer 122 taken alonglines A-A′ and B-B′ of FIG. 2A, respectively. The floating body effectis closely associated with holes accumulated in the lower portion of abody region of the SOI structure, which is electrically floated by theinsulating layer 110, and significantly affects the operation of an NMOSdevice. If the MOS device of FIG. 2A is an NMOS transistor, highconcentration of n-type of impurities are implanted to form the sourceregion 146 and the drain region 148. A channel is formed between thesource and drain regions 146 and 148 near the surface of the siliconlayer, which is the device layer 124. If a positive drain voltage isapplied to the drain region 148 in order to operate the NMOS transistor,movement of electrons through the channel causes impact ionization,thereby generating a large number of holes. The generated holes areaccumulated in the body below the channel since the body on the SOIstructure is not grounded. However, the holes easily move to the sourceregion 146 through the SiGe layer 122.

Thus, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, asemiconductor structure includes an insulator configured to provideelectrical isolation between devices formed in the semiconductorstructure, a silicon germanium layer in direct contact with theinsulator, and a silicon layer in contact with the silicon germaniumlayer. The silicon layer, due to the respective band gaps of Si and Ge,has a higher band gap than the silicon germanium layer. In one aspect ofthe present invention, the silicon germanium layer is configured toreceive minority carriers from the silicon layer to minimize chargeaccumulation in the silicon layer. In another aspect of the presentinvention, the insulator is an insulating layer formed on asemiconductor substrate. According to the invention, the insulatinglayer can be SiO₂, and the semiconductor can be a silicon wafer. Theinsulator can be, according to the invention, one of a glass, quartz, orsapphire substrate. In another aspect of the present invention, thesilicon germanium layer has a germanium concentration of 5 to 30%. In apreferred embodiment, the germanium concentration ranges from 10-25%.

In another aspect of the present invention, the silicon germanium layeris an epitaxial silicon germanium layer grown initially on a separatesubstrate. The silicon layer can be, according to the invention, anepitaxial silicon layer grown on the epitaxial silicon germanium layer.The silicon germanium layer has a thickness ranging from 20 to 50 nm. Ina preferred embodiment, the silicon layer has a thickness ranging from100 to 200 nm.

In another aspect of the present invention, the semiconductor structureof the present invention includes a drain, a source, and a gateinsulator formed above the silicon layer, as shown in FIG. 2A, andconfigured to control an active region between the source and the drain.In this aspect, the silicon germanium layer is configured to receiveminority carriers from the silicon layer to thereby minimize chargeaccumulation in the silicon layer, and the silicon germanium layer isconfigured to conduct the minority carriers to the drain.

Referring to FIG. 3, which is an energy band diagram of a junction ofsilicon layer 124 and SiGe layer 122 in the body region below thechannel between the source and drain regions 146 and 148, a potentialenergy Ec of the conduction band of SiGe layer 122 is lower than that ofthe silicon layer 124. A potential energy Ev of the valence band thereofis higher than that of the silicon layer 124. Thus, the energy gap orband gap of SiGe layer 122 is about 0.97 eV, which is narrower than 1.08eV of the silicon layer 124. That is, the SiGe layer 122 exhibits narrowband gap characteristics. In particular, since the potential energy Evof balance band of SiGe layer 122 increases toward a Fermi level, apotential barrier for holes at the junction between layers 122 and 124is lowered, thereby preventing accumulation of the holes in the bodyregion and allowing movement of the holes to the SiGe layer 122.

Referring to FIG. 4, which is an energy band diagram of a junctionbetween SiGe layer 122 and source region 146, a potential energy at thesource region 146 in which high concentration of n-type of impuritiesare implanted is higher than that at the body region in which highconcentration of p-type of impurities are implanted. Thus, a potentialbarrier for holes in the SiGe layer 122 within the source region 146 islowered so that holes moved to the SiGe layer 122 through the bodyregion can further be moved to SiGe layer 122 within source region 146,thereby suppressing the floating body effect which is one disadvantageof a conventional SOI wafer.

FIG. 5 is a graph in which drain current-drain voltage (I_(d)−V_(d))curves of a MOS transistor formed on the SOI structure of the presentinvention are compared with those of a MOS transistor formed on atypical SOI (silicon/silicon oxide/silicon) wafer having no SiGe layer.As shown in FIG. 5 on a logarithmic scale, devices formed onconventional SOI wafer show abrupt increases in drain current I_(d) atspecific drain voltages V_(d), thereby exhibiting a kink effect such asshown at a voltage of 1.05 V at a gate voltage Vg of 1V for the lowerset of curves. Devices formed in the SOI structure of the presentinvention exhibit no kink effect at the earlier drain voltages, andconsequently show higher drain currents and higher drain breakdownvoltages.

FIG. 6 is a graph in which drain current-gate voltage (I_(d)−V_(g))curves of an MOS transistor formed in the SOI structure of the presentinvention are compared with those of the MOS transistor of FIG. 1 formedon the conventional wafer. As is evident from FIG. 6, the MOS transistoron the SOI structure of the present invention has a subthreshold slope Ssignificantly larger than that on the transistor formed in theconventional SOI wafer. The larger subthreshold slope S increasestransconductance and switching speed of MOS transistor fabricated in theSOI structure of the present invention, such as for example a MOStransistor.

Methods of manufacturing a SOI structure having a SiGe layer accordingto embodiments of the present invention will now be described.

First Embodiment

FIGS. 7-12 are cross-sectional views showing a process for fabricatingthe SOI structure of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 7, a firstSiGe layer 126 is epitaxially grown over a first substrate 140. Thefirst substrate 140 is a monocrystalline silicon substrate used as aseed of the epitaxial growth. After loading the silicon substrate 140,having a purified surface, into a chemical vapor deposition (CVD)apparatus heated to a predetermined temperature, such as for example,700° C., a reactive gas including silicon (e.g. Si₂H₆, SiH₄, SiCl₄ etc)is supplied with a reactive gas including germanium (e.g. GeH₄, Ge₂H₆,etc.) to grow the first SiGe layer 126 over the silicon substrate 140.When the first SiGe layer 126 is grown to a predetermined thickness, forexample, 10-50 Å, preferably, 20 Å, the Ge reactive gas ceases to besupplied, and continuously, a silicon layer, which will be a devicelayer 124, is epitaxially grown in situ to a thickness of severalhundreds to thousands of Angstroms, for example, between 500 and 1800 Åin this embodiment. Then, the Ge reactive is supplied again toepitaxially grow a second SiGe layer 122 to a thickness of severalhundreds to thousands of angstroms, for example, about 300 Å.

Referring to FIG. 8, a silicon oxide layer is formed, on the epitaxiallygrown second SiGe layer 122, as an insulating layer 132 to a thicknessof several hundreds to thousands of Angstroms, for example, about 1,000Å. The insulating layer 132 may be deposited using various chemical orphysical deposition techniques or formed by thermal oxidationtechniques, all of which are known to those skilled in the art.

Referring to FIG. 9, hydrogen ions are implanted into the top of thefirst substrate 140 to form a hydrogen implantation region 128.Techniques for implanting hydrogen ions (and separating a substratealong the hydrogen implantation region) are described in U.S. Pat. Nos.5,882,987 and 6,033,974, the entire contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference. More specifically in this example, an ionimplantation energy is controlled such that the projected range R_(p) ofthe implanted ions reaches a depth of 50-100 Å beneath the first SiGelayer 126, and an implantation dose is in the range of 3.5×10¹⁵ to3.5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm². Setting the projected range R_(p) in this wayfacilitates separation caused by a mismatch between the siliconsubstrate 140 and the first SiGe layer 126.

FIG. 31A depicts a secondary ion mass spectrometer (SIMS) profile ofatomic Ge concentration as a function of Ge layer thickness, showingthat Ge concentration increased with Ge layer thickness although the gasconcentration of GeH₄ was fixed. FIG. 31B depicts the solubility of H₂in SiGe layer is two times higher than in Si layer. FIG. 31C depictsconcentration of hydrogen accumulated in SiGe layer increased with Geconcentration. As can be seen from FIG. 31A, 31B, and 31C, the amount ofhydrogen accumulated at the interface is directly related to the Geconcentration. The propagation of a crack (i.e., cleavage) along thehydrogen accumulated interface is caused by the mismatch between theSiGe layer and the Si.

The resultant surface roughness following cleavage is a function of thehydrogen implant dose and the SiGe layer thickness. The effect ofhydrogen accumulation at an interface between SiGe and Si is shown inFIGS. 32 and 33 for two different hydrogen implants into an epitaxialSiGe/Si structure having doses of 2×10¹⁶ atoms/cm² and 6×10 ¹⁵atoms/cm², respectively The absolute concentrations of Ge and hydrogendose are not critical and the values given here are shown only toillustrate the effect of hydrogen accumulation at SiGe interfaces andare not given to unduly limit the present invention. The accumulation ofhydrogen at the interface is driven by strain at the interface arisingfrom the difference in lattice constants between the Si and theepitaxial SiGe layer. FIG. 34 is a SIMS profile across a SiGe/Siepitaxial structure showing the same effect of hydrogen accumulation forhydrogen accumulations at the interface approaching the maximum solublelimit of hydrogen in the SiGe alloy of 20% Ge. As before, hydrogenaccumulates preferentially at the interfaces. FIG. 35 is a depiction ofa cross-sectional transmission electron micrograph of a SiGe/Siepitaxial structure similar to that epitaxial SiGe/Si structure depictedin FIG. 34. Note the contrast in the electron micrograph about the firstSiGe layer with a thickness of 29 nm. The accumulation of the hydrogenat the SiGe interface disrupts the lattice of the SiGe/Si epitaxialstructure near the interface such that a cavity is created as the solidis converted to a hydride. For low dose rate implants, the resultantcavity dimension can be small, resulting in a cleavage having less thana 50 Å surface roughness for a dose rate of 5×10¹⁶ atoms/cm², after ananneal at 400° C. for 30 min, for a SiGe layer with a 20% concentration.

Cleavage along the disrupted interface provides a method according tothe present invention for separating the SiGe/Si epitaxial structures atone of the internal interfaces between the SiGe and the Si.

Referring now to FIG. 10, the surface of the insulating layer 132 formedon the topmost surface of the first substrate 140 is cleaned, and then asecond substrate 100 is bonded to the insulating layer 132. The bondingprocess is performed by compressing both substrates 100 and 140 at roomtemperature. Then, the substrate 100 is annealed at 400-600° C. to forma hybrid phase at the hydrogen implantation region 128 therebyfacilitating a subsequent cleaving or separation. While the secondsubstrate 100 has been shown in this embodiment without an insulatinglayer, the second substrate 100 having an insulating layer such assilicon oxide thereon may be used. Alternatively, the second substratecan itself be an insulating substrate such as for example glass, quartz,or sapphire.

Referring to FIG. 11, the substrate 130 is separated along the hydrogenimplantation region 128 and removed. To make the bonding between eachlayer on the second substrate 100 stronger, the substrate 100 isannealed at above 1,100° C. in a nitrogen ambient for a time in therange of 1 to 2 hours.

Referring to FIG. 12, the first SiGe layer 126 remaining on the devicelayer 124 is selectively removed using a chemical etch, therebycompleting the manufacture of the SOI structure of the present inventionhaving the second SiGe layer 122 directly in contact with the insulatinglayer 132. In order to make the exposed surface of the device layer 124smooth, the wafers may be transferred to an epitaxial reaction chamberto perform hydrogen annealing in a hydrogen atmosphere above 1150° C.for >5 min.

Second Embodiment

FIGS. 13-18 are cross-sectional views showing a process for fabricatingthe SOI structure of the present invention. Unlike the first embodiment,the second embodiment isolates the buried SiGe layer by separationimplanted oxygen (SIMOX). The SIMOX process implants oxygen ions into asilicon substrate upon which thermal oxidation forms an intermediateinsulating layer. The SIMOX techniques are described in Sadao Nakashima“High-quality Low-dose SIMOX Wafers”, IEICE TRANS ELECTRON, VOL. E80C,NO. 3, pp 364-369, March 1997, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference. Further, SIMOX techniques aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,486,037, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

Referring to FIG. 13, a SiGe layer 126 is epitaxially grown over asubstrate 140. The substrate 140 is a monocrystalline silicon substrateused as a seed of this epitaxial growth. After loading the siliconsubstrate 140 having a purified surface into a chemical vapor deposition(CVD) apparatus heated to a predetermined temperature, for example, 700°C., a reactive gas including silicon, as discussed previously, issupplied with a reactive gas including germanium, as discussedpreviously) to grow the SiGe layer 126 over the silicon substrate 140.When the SiGe layer 126 is grown to a predetermined thickness, forexample, 200-400 Å, preferably, 300 Å, the reactive gas including Geceases to be supplied, and continuously, a silicon layer, which will bea device layer 124, is epitaxially grown in situ to a thickness ofseveral hundreds to thousands of angstroms, for example, about 2,400 Åin this embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 14, a silicon oxide layer is formed on the epitaxiallygrown device layer 124 as an insulating layer 132 to a thickness ofseveral hundreds to thousands of angstroms, for example, about 1,000 Å.The insulating layer 132 may be deposited using the various depositionand thermal oxidation techniques previously noted.

Referring to FIG. 15, oxygen ions are implanted into the top of thesubstrate 140 to form an oxygen implantation region 134. Morespecifically, an ion implantation energy is controlled such that theprojected range Rp of the implanted ions is about 4,200 Å from thesurface of the insulating layer 132, i.e., about 500 Å from below theSiGe layer 126. In this embodiment, ion implantation is performed at animplantation energy of 180 KeV and at an implantation dose of 3.0×10¹⁵to 4.5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm².

Referring to FIG. 16, a high temperature anneal is performed to oxidizethe oxygen implantation region 134 and form an insulating layer 136formed of silicon oxide. The high temperature annealing is performed atabout 1,300° C. for several hours, for example, about 4 hours, in anargon atmosphere containing less than 1% oxygen.

Referring to FIG. 17, a high temperature thermal oxidation is performedat above 1,300° C. so that the silicon substrate 140 between the oxygenimplantation region 134 and the SiGe layer 126 is completely oxidized.Thus, the top surface of the insulating layer 136 is in contact with theSiGe layer 126. The high temperature thermal oxidation is performed inan argon atmosphere containing oxygen greater than 50%. Here, thethickness of the insulating layer 136 is approximately 1,000 Å.

Referring to FIG. 18, the insulating layer 132 formed on the topmostsurface of the substrate 140 is selectively removed using wet chemicalsto complete the manufacture of the SOI structure of the presentinvention.

Third Embodiment

FIGS. 19-24 are cross-sectional views showing a process for fabricatingthe SOI structure of the present invention. Like the first embodiment,the third embodiment involves implanting hydrogen ions to form acleavage region. The difference is that a single SiGe layer is formed.

Referring to FIG. 19, a silicon layer 124 is epitaxially grown over afirst substrate 140 formed of silicon. The first substrate 140 is amonocrystalline silicon substrate used as a seed of this epitaxialgrowth. The silicon layer 124 is epitaxially grown to a thickness ofseveral hundreds to thousands of angstroms, for example, 500 and 1800 Åin this embodiment. Then, the reactive gas including germanium issupplied again to epitaxially grow a SiGe layer 126 to a thickness ofseveral hundreds to thousands of angstroms, for example, about 300 Å.

Referring to FIG. 20, a silicon oxide layer is formed on the epitaxiallygrown SiGe layer 126 as an insulating layer 132 to a thickness ofseveral hundreds to thousands of angstroms, for example, about 1,000 Å.The insulating layer 132 may be deposited using various chemical orphysical deposition techniques or formed by thermal oxidation.

Referring to FIG. 21, hydrogen ions are implanted into the top of thefirst substrate 140 to form a hydrogen implantation region 128. Morespecifically, an ion implantation energy is controlled such that theprojected range Rp of the implanted ions reaches a depth of several tensto hundreds of Angstroms beneath the silicon layer 124. The ionimplantation is performed at an implantation energy of 95 KeV and at animplantation dose of 3.5×10⁶ to 3.5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm².

Referring to FIG. 22, the surface of the insulating layer 132 formed onthe topmost surface of the first substrate 140 is cleaned, and then asecond substrate 100 is bonded to the insulating layer 132. The bondingprocess is performed by compressing both substrates 100 and 140 at roomtemperature. Then, the substrate 100 is annealed at 400-600° C. to forma hybrid phase at the hydrogen implantation region 128 therebyfacilitating a subsequent cleaving or separation. While only the secondsubstrate 100 has been used in this embodiment, a second substratehaving an insulating layer such as silicon oxide may be used, or aspreviously discussed, the second substrate itself can be insulating.

Referring to FIG. 23, the first substrate 140 is separated along thehydrogen implantation region 128 and removed. Techniques for implantinghydrogen ions to separate a substrate along the hydrogen implantationregion are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,882,987 and 6,033,974 describedabove. To make the bonding between each layer on the second substrate100 stronger, the substrate 100 is annealed at above 1,100° C. for atime in the range of 1 to 2 hours.

Referring to FIG. 24, a part of the first substrate 140 remaining on thedevice layer 124 is selectively removed using a chemical etch or bychemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to expose the device layer 124,thereby completing the manufacture of a SOI structure having the SiGelayer 126 formed directly on the insulating layer 132. In order to makethe exposed surface of the device layer 124 smooth, the substrate 100may be transferred to an epitaxial reaction chamber to perform hydrogenannealing in a hydrogen atmosphere.

Fourth Embodiment

FIGS. 25-30 are cross-sectional views showing a process for fabricatinga bonded SOI structure according to a fourth embodiment of the presentinvention. Referring to FIG. 25, a porous silicon layer 138 is formed ona first substrate 140 made of silicon. The first substrate 140 is asingle crystalline silicon substrate, and anodization is performed on asurface of the single crystalline silicon substrate 140 using an HFsolution to form the porous silicon layer 138. Anodization techniquesfor forming a porous silicon layer are described in U.S. Pat. No.5,876,497, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein byreference. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention,anodization is performed in 40% HF+C₂H₅OH (2:1) and with current densityof 7 mA/cm² to form the porous silicon layer 138 having a thickness of12 μm.

Referring to FIG. 26, a silicon layer 124 is epitaxially grown on theporous silicon layer 138 to a predetermined thickness, for example,several hundreds to thousands of Angstroms, 500 and 1800 Å in thisembodiment. Then, the reactive gas including germanium is supplied toepitaxially grow a SiGe layer 126 to a thickness of several hundreds tothousands of angstroms, for example, about 300 Å.

Referring to FIG. 27, a silicon oxide layer is formed on the SiGe layer126 as an insulating layer 132 to a thickness of several hundreds tothousands of angstroms, for example, about 1,000 Å. The insulating layer132 may be deposited using various chemical or physical depositiontechniques or formed by thermal oxidation.

Referring to FIG. 28, the surface of the insulating layer 132 formed onthe topmost surface of the first substrate 140 is cleaned, and then asecond substrate 100 is bonded to the insulating layer 132, followed byhigh temperature annealing. The bonding process is performed bycompressing both substrates 100 and 140 at room temperature. Then, thesecond substrate 100 is annealed at about 1,180° C. While the secondsubstrate 100 has been shown in this embodiment without an insulatinglayer, the second substrate 100 having an insulating layer such assilicon oxide thereon may be used, or as previously discussed the secondsubstrate itself can be insulating.

Referring to FIG. 29, the first substrate 140 is separated along theporous silicon layer 138 and removed.

Referring to FIG. 30, a part of the porous silicon layer 138 remainingon a device layer 124 as shown in FIG. 29 is selectively removed using achemical etch or by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) to expose thedevice layer 124, thereby completing the manufacture of a SOI structurehaving the SiGe layer 126 formed directly on the insulating layer 132.

A mixture of 40% HF, 70% HNO₃, and 98% CH₃COOH is used as an etchingsolution for removing the porous silicon layer 138. To make the exposedsurface of the device layer 124 smooth and to promote boronout-diffusion, the substrate 100 may be transferred to an epitaxialreaction chamber to perform hydrogen annealing in a hydrogen atmosphereat a temperature of 1,000° C. at a pressure of 760 Torr.

As described above, according to the present invention, a SiGe layerinterposed between a silicon layer and an insulator of asilicon-on-insulator structure and having a narrow band gap is formed ina body and a source/drain region of a semiconductor device, the SiGeburied layer suppresses the floating body effect and the kink effect andincreases the breakdown voltage of a drain of a device formed with theburied SiGe layer, thus improving transconductance and switching speedof a MOS transistor formed thereon. Furthermore, the methods ofmanufacturing a bonding SOI structure according to this invention arereadily implemented and facilitate the control of thickness uniformityof the epitaxial SiGe and Si layers.

Numerous modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims, the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.

1. A semiconductor structure comprising: an insulator configured toprovide electrical isolation; a silicon germanium layer in directcontact with said insulator; and a silicon layer in contact with saidsilicon germanium layer, said silicon layer having a higher band gapthan said silicon germanium layer, wherein the insulator comprises asapphire substrate.
 2. The structure of claim 1, wherein said silicongermanium layer is configured to receive minority carriers from thesilicon layer to minimize charge accumulation in the silicon in thesilicon layer.
 3. The structure of claim 1, further comprising: asemiconductor substrate; and said insulator comprising an insulatinglayer formed on said semiconductor substrate.
 4. The structure of claim3, wherein the insulating layer comprises SiO₂.
 5. The structure ofclaim 3, wherein the semiconductor comprises a silicon wafer.
 6. Thestructure of claim 1, wherein the insulator comprises at least one of aglass substrate, and a quartz substrate.
 7. The structure of claim 1,wherein the silicon germanium layer has a germanium concentration of 5to 30%.
 8. The structure of claim 7, wherein the germanium concentrationranges from 10-25%.
 9. The structure of claim 1, wherein the silicongermanium layer comprises an epitaxial silicon germanium layer growninitially on a separate substrate.
 10. The structure of claim 9, whereinthe silicon layer comprises an epitaxial silicon layer grown on saidepitaxial silicon germanium layer.
 11. The structure of claim 1, whereinthe silicon germanium layer has a thickness ranging from 20 to 50 nm.12. The structure of claim 1, wherein the silicon layer has a thicknessranging from 100 to 200 nm.
 13. The structure of claim 1, furthercomprising: a drain formed in at least the silicon layer; a sourceformed in at least the silicon layer; a gate insulator formed above saidsilicon layer; and a gate electrode formed above said gate insulator,said gate electrode configured to control an active region between saidsource and said drain.
 14. The structure of claim 13, wherein thesilicon germanium layer is configured to receive minority carriers fromthe silicon layer to minimize charge accumulation in the silicon layer.15. The structure of claim 13, wherein the silicon germanium layer isconfigured to conduct said minority carriers to said drain.
 16. A methodof manufacturing a silicon on insulator SOI wafer having a silicongermanium SiGe layer in contact with said insulator, comprising:epitaxially growing a first SiGe layer, a silicon layer, and a secondSiGe layer in sequence on a first substrate; forming an insulating layeron the second SiGe layer; implanting impurity ions into a predeterminedlocation of the first substrate underlying the first SiGe layer to forman impurity implantation region; bonding a second substrate to theinsulating layer on the first substrate; and separating the firstsubstrate along the impurity implantation region and removing the firstsubstrate, wherein the epitaxially growing the first SiGe layercomprises epitaxially growing the first SiGe layer to a thickness of10-50 Å, and the implanting impurity ions comprises implanting theimpurity ions at a depth of 50-100 Å below the first SiGe layer.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, further comprising: removing the first SiGe layerremaining on a surface of a separated region of the second substrate sothat the surface of the silicon layer is exposed.
 18. The method ofclaim 17, further comprising: annealing the second substrate in anhydrogen atmosphere after removal of the remaining first SiGe layer. 19.The method of claim 16, wherein the epitaxially growing comprises:epitaxially growing on a silicon substrate.
 20. (canceled)
 21. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the forming an insulating layer comprises:forming a silicon oxide layer.
 22. The method of claim 16, wherein theimplanting impurity ions comprises: implanting hydrogen impurity ions.23. The method of claim 16, wherein the implanting impurity ionscomprises: implanting the impurity ions below the first SiGe layer. 24.(canceled)
 25. The method of claim 16, further comprising: annealing thesecond substrate after separation of the first substrate.
 26. The methodof claim 16, wherein the annealing comprises: annealing the secondsubstrate at a temperature above, 1,100° C. for a time in a range of 1to 2 hours after separation of the first substrate.
 27. A method ofmanufacturing a silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer having a silicongermanium (SiGe) layer, comprising: epitaxially growing the SiGe layerand a silicon layer in sequence on a substrate; forming an insultinglayer on the silicon layer; implanting impurity ions into apredetermined location of the substrate underlying the SiGe layer toform an impurity implantation region; annealing the substrate; andthermally oxidizing the impurity implantation region to form saidinsulator of said SOI wafer, wherein the implanting comprises implantingat least oxygen impurity ions, the implanting the impurity ionscomprises implanting the impurity ions implanted at a depth 400-600 Åbelow the SiGe layer, and the annealing comprises annealing at atemperature above 1,300° C. in an argon atmosphere having less than 1%oxygen and oxidizing at a temperature above 1,300° C. in an argonatmosphere having greater than 50% oxygen.
 28. The method of claim 27,further comprising: removing said insulating layer formed on a topmostsurface of the substrate.
 29. The method of claim 27, wherein theepitaxially growing comprises: epitaxially growing the SiGe layer on asilicon substrate.
 30. The method of claim 27, wherein the epitaxiallygrowing comprises: epitaxially growing the SiGe layer to a thickness of200-300 Å.
 31. (canceled)
 32. The method of claim 27, wherein theforming an insulating layer comprises: forming a silicon oxide layer.33. The method of claim 27, wherein the implanting impurity ionscomprises: implanting the impurity ions below the SiGe layer. 34-36.(canceled)
 37. A method of manufacturing a silicon on insulator (SOI)wafer having a silicon germanium (SiGe) layer thereon, comprising:forming a porous silicon layer on a first substrate; epitaxially growinga silicon layer and the SiGe layer in sequence on the porous siliconlayer; forming an insulating layer on the SiGe layer; bonding a secondsubstrate to the insulating layer on the first substrate to form abonded first and second substrate; annealing the bonded first and secondsubstrate; separating the first substrate from the bonded first andsecond substrate along the porous silicon layer and removing the firstsubstrate; and removing remnants of the porous silicon layer, whereinthe forming a porous silicon layer comprises performing an anodizationof the first substrate; and the removing remnants comprises etching theremnants in a mixture of 40% HF, 70% HNO₃, and 98% CH₃COOH. 38.(canceled)
 39. The method of claim 37, wherein the forming an insulatinglayer comprises: forming a silicon oxide layer.
 40. (canceled)
 41. Themethod of claim 37, further comprising: annealing the second substratein a hydrogen atmosphere after removal of the porous silicon layer. 42.A method of manufacturing a silicon on insulator SOI wafer having asilicon germanium SiGe layer in contact with said insulator, accordingto claim 16, 27 or 37, wherein the ion implantation is performed at animplantation energy of 180 KeV and at an implantation dose of 3.0×10¹⁵to 4.5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm².
 43. A method of manufacturing a silicon oninsulator SOI wafer having a silicon germanium SiGe layer in contactwith said insulator, according to claim 16, 27 or 37, wherein the ionimplantation is performed at an implantation energy of 95 KeV and at animplantation dose of 3.5×10¹⁶ to 3.5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm².
 44. A method ofmanufacturing a silicon on insulator SOI wafer having a silicongermanium SiGe layer in contact with said insulator, according to claim16, 27 or 37, wherein the substrate is transferred to an epitaxialreaction chamber to perform hydrogen annealing in a hydrogen atmosphereat a temperature of 1,000° C. at a pressure of 760 Torr.